Men's Basketball Survives Against Concordia 88-76
12/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
MORAGA, Calif. - The Kent State University men's basketball team survived a scare here tonight (Dec. 21) at the hands of Concordia (Calif.) College, using a second-half surge keyed by senior point guard DeAndre Haynes to pull out an 88-76 win. The Golden Flashes scored 50 points in the second half, shooting over 67 percent to rally for the victory.
Haynes was the key to the second half for Kent State (6-3), scoring 20 of his career-high 31 points after intermission. He shot 9-of-13 (.692) in the second frame as he became the first Golden Flash to eclipse 30 points since Antonio Gates had 30 points against Hawaii Feb. 22, 2003.
Kent State saw Concordia (7-4) pull out to as much as a 10-point lead in the first half after trailing by seven early. Concordia used a 20-9 run in the middle of the first to open the lead, settling for a 46-38 advantage at the half.
The Golden Eagles pushed their lead to 11 early in the second half, before Kent State went on a 23-9 run over 7:37 to take the lead 65-64 with 9:25 to play. It was KSU's first lead since 25-23 at 9:39 of the first half. Haynes scored 10 points in the run, which was capped by sophomore forward Mike Scott's layup.
After Kent State took the lead, Concordia rallied to get back in front by four points, 69-65. But the Golden Flashes would close the contest on a 23-7 run over the final 7:49 to claim the victory. Junior guard Armon Gates put the final exclamation point on the game, canning two straight three-point field goals in the final 90 seconds to take Kent State's lead from four to 10 points.
The Golden Flashes shot a season-high 59.7 percent (37-of-62) from the field and hit 6-of-11 (.545) from three-point range. But Kent State was hindered at the free-throw line, hitting only 8-of-16 attempts. KSU was out-rebounded by Concordia 33-31 in the game, and the Flashes also committed 17 turnovers. However, the Golden Flashes forced Concordia into 25 turnovers, which KSU converted into 26 points.
Senior guard Jay Youngblood scored 19 points, while Gates added 13 points and five steals, a career-high.
Kent State plays tomorrow against Saint Mary's in the second game of the Shamrock Shootout. Game time is 7:35 p.m. PT.
NOTES: Kent State's senior center Nate Gerwig did not play in the game after suffering a moderate sprain of his medial collateral ligament in his right knee at practice here yesterday... Gerwig is expected to miss 1-3 weeks... Junior guard Omni Smith was limited to five minutes due to a thigh bruise... His status is day-to-day... With his three assists and one steal, Haynes moved into sole possession of second place on Kent States career assists and steals lists... He now has 522 career assists and 185 career steals... This was the first ever meeting between the teams... The game is part of the Shamrock Shootout at Saint Mary's College of California.
